ACCESS TO DEGREES IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

Dave Marshall
Access to post-secondary education has always been a major concern in Canada, and if student fees are usually a main concern in this regard, Dave Marshall warns that strategies adopted by the provinces in recent years to try and respond to the increasing demand for degrees have fuelled an inflationary spiral that risks diminishing the value of certain credentials. Marshall reviews the causes and effects of this degree inflation and suggests that part of the answer lies with the process of degree accreditation, where in recent years several cracks appeared in the historical provincial degree-granting framework. As long as individual provincial governments stayed mostly on the same page regarding degree-granting, he concludes, Canada has never felt the need to establish a national degree or institutional accreditation process. Consumers (parents, students, employers, graduate schools, professional schools), both here in Canada and elsewhere, are now suggesting otherwise. Laccs lenseignement post-secondaire a toujours t une question trs sensible au Canada, notamment au chapitre des droits de scolarit. Cependant, prvient Dave Marshall, les stratgies adoptes ces dernires annes par les provinces pour rpondre la demande croissante de diplmes ont provoqu une spirale inflationniste qui risque damoindrir la valeur de certains dentre eux. Lauteur examine les causes et les effets de cette spirale, suggrant que la solution rside en partie dans un processus daccrditation des diplmes, tant donn les failles apparues depuis quelques annes dans le processus de diplomation des provinces. Tant que les gouvernements provinciaux appliquaient plus ou moins le mme mode dattribution, le Canada na pas senti la ncessit dtablir un processus de diplomation national ou daccrditation institutionnel. Mais au Canada comme ltranger, les diffrents intresss (parents, tudiants, employeurs, tablissements universitaires et professionnels) rclament dsormais quon prenne les mesures qui simposent , conclut-il.

he demand for access to degrees in Canada has been well documented over the past decade or so, as has the continued growth in that demand. The participation rate in degree programs of the typical grade nine cohort has almost tripled over the past 30 years in Canada to over 20 percent. As reported in the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) Trends in Higher Education (2002), we will need upwards of 100,000 new degree places in the next decade to meet the demand for participation in degree-level study. Our response in Canada to this dramatic increase in demand has been the same as it would be in any supplydemand environment: we have tried to increase the supply. We have done it by increasing capacity at traditional universities. (Ontario alone has added 30,000 new first-year university places since 2001.) We have added new universiOPTIONS POLITIQUES
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ties (five in the last 15 years none in the previous 20). We have used other parts of the system to add capacity (for example, deliver the first two years of university in community colleges in BC and Alberta). We have approved nontraditional delivery of traditional degrees (faith-based institutions, distance delivery institutions, private institutions). We have implemented other types of degrees (applied, technology). And, in at least one province (Alberta) we are going to allow full, traditional baccalaureate degrees to be offered by community colleges. In general, there is now such a proliferation of different types of degrees and degree sources that it is difficult for the consumer (student or employer) to sort out the value or meaning of the credential. The US has always had a wide array of both institutions and degrees and, consequently, the value of a US degree has always been more related to the

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to creeping and inflationary. This is where credentials simply change their labels without changing the substance. For example, degree inflation occurs when a college diploma is turned into a baccalaureate degree (applied or technology) with marginal change in substance. That is why the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) The US has always had a wide array of both institutions and in Ontario has specified the degrees and, consequently, the value of a US degree has requirement for both a 25 percent liberal studies always been more related to the institution rather than the component to applied label. In Canada, this has not historically been the case. A degrees and demonstrated Canadian degree was valued as a credential since only higher levels of learning Canadian universities that were reviewed by a national appropriate to the degree designation. In addition, association and given provincial legislative approval were the degrees would require able to offer degrees. This is no longer the case. admission levels comparable to university-level credentials. Current estimates are that 50 percent While these alternate strategies These and other restrictions on the of all new jobs created over the next for degree access have indeed provided new types of degrees, like applied decade will require six or more years access for Canadians to undergraduate degrees, serve the purposes of both of post-secondary education. degrees, they have fuelled the growth of identifying for the student the unique As the degree has increasingly credential inflation in Canada. Randall character of the credential and mainbecome the entry point to many jobs Collins in The Future of The City of taining standards that keep degree and professions, the response has been Intellect, defines degree inflation as the inflation in check. These types of to increase the capacity of the tradicombined circumstances where the degrees also provide a high level of tional degree-granting system. That is, degree becomes a requirement for more mobility directly into the workplace increase the supply of graduates holdand more jobs and professions while, at so some value- added component ing the skills, knowledge and attribthe same time, becoming an insufficient mitigates the inflationary effect. utes traditionally associated with the entry requirement to others. While the Other degree initiatives are not so degree credential in order to meet the existence of such degree inflation is benign. The private University of legitimate workplace demands for clearly documented, the cause and Phoenixs very successful efforts to these attributes. Most agree that this is effects are much less discussed. mass produce the university degree a useful and necessary kind of creeping undoubtedly fuels degree inflation. credentialism. In fact, it is a healthy here are two kinds of creeping They sell to students the credential as sign of a growing and advancing sociecredentialism that illustrate the content without any attempt to replity and should be more appropriately debate regarding degree inflation. The cate the experience of the university termed expanding credentialism first is the increase in credential degree credential. With an enrolment A variation of this type of creeping expectations due to changes in the of 75,000 students across the US, they credentialism has been the efforts of workplace. In the knowledge ecowill undoubtedly increase access, most provinces to provide access to the nomy, the increased knowledge increase the supply of degree holders, university level credential in non-tradiexpectations of many jobs and profesand assuredly fuel credential inflation. tional means (distance, private, universions have resulted in a legitimate But, at least the degree is offered in an sity transfer). While the value and increase in the credentials required for accredited university environment. experience of the credential remains various jobs. This has occurred in all On the other hand, the initiative intact, increasing the supply of degree areas, from the trades and technoloacross the US (and parts of Canada) to credentials through alternate delivery gies through to the professions such as offer the foundational baccalaureate means has helped fuel degree inflation, nursing and accounting. Many of the degree on (community) college camalthough in a largely positive fashion credentialing changes have been puses is, perhaps, the newest and the for both students and employers. driven by the expectations of the promost serious contributor to creeping The second source or type of fessions as they have examined the credentialism or degree inflation. As degree inflation is not as positive and increased knowledge levels expected permitted in Albertas new Postis the type that gives the true meaning of their members. This has been espeinstitution rather than the label. In Canada, this has not historically been the case. A Canadian degree was valued as a credential, since only Canadian universities that were reviewed by a national association and given provincial legislative approval were able to offer degrees. This is no longer the case. cially true where the jobs (new or old) have required a greater level of general or liberal education in order to be performed effectively. The development of the MBA as an entry level credential to an increasing number of business related jobs is an example, as is the increasing science knowledge base required of the modern nurse.

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Secondary Learning Act (2003), the degree offered in the college environment would have the same label as the university credential, but would not represent the same environment or degree experience for the student. In fact, the whole purpose in providing these degrees in this environment is to offer a different degree: more accessible, lower cost, higher teaching levels for faculty (less research) and so on. In general, instead of a new workplace reflective credential, it would be an existing credential in a different environment with a different meaning and value. University of Phoenix credential is high. Students taking university transfer in colleges are generally satisfied with the instructional setting they experience. And after almost a decade of operation, the applied degrees in some Alberta colleges are gaining increased respect as workplace credentials. Yet, the costs to the student of continuing degree inflation are pronounced. Each additional year of postsecondary education carries both direct and opportunity costs to the student. To this point, in Canada, there appears to be no limit to the amount the individuals will pay to access higher credentials that will indeed pay off in the job market. This suggests that there is indeed a real value to the degree credential and as long as that real value is there, the demand will continue to increase. However, as a result of degree inflation, the value of the first baccalaureate degree has shifted from its value as direct entry to the workplace to what Randall Collins calls a way station toward achieving the higher level credentials needed for a job. While the traditional first degree still retains all of the social, intellectual and cultural benefits that the experience has always held, its current value rests largely with its ability to give the holder dential is viewed as a second-choice credential, as either the degree is rejected by other post-secondary institutions or as degree inflation ultimately ratchets up the job or professional requirements beyond their credential. The first response of the university post-secondary system to the proliferation of new types of degrees will be to communicate that these alternate degrees (applied, technology, collegedelivered) are not the same as university-delivered degrees. This means that, at least for purposes of further study, these degrees will be considered second tier for access to professional schools and graduate schools. This has already started to happen across Canada as provincial organizations and individual universities have adopted admission policies that make it clear that these degree holders should not assume that they would be eligible for admission to their institutions for further study. For example, to satisfy the basis of admission requirement to any degree program at Queens University, academic credentials obtained from a Canadian institution must be from an institution that is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). Chances are that over time, the government and the institution that

he primary reason, of course, for such an increasing proliferation of alternate strategies to provide degrees is cost. No province in Canada has been able to completely absorb the cost of providing unfettered access to the traditionally delivered university degree credential and, consequently, has sought out cheaper alternatives. Offering the first two years of university (university transfer) in colleges in Alberta and BC was simply a way of offering them cheaper than in a university setting. Access funds for these university transfer students in Alberta colleges cost the government about $1,500 less per student than the same students would cost in a university delivered enviThe primary reason, of course, for such an increasing ronment. Similarly, private (for-profit and proliferation of alternate strategies to provide degrees is cost. not-for-profit) could have No province in Canada has been able to completely absorb the the potential to dramati- cost of providing unfettered access to the traditionally cally shift the burden of delivered university degree credential and, consequently, has cost from the taxpayer to sought out cheaper alternatives. the individual. In the short term, for offered the new degree will start comaccess to more credentials and then the student that would not normally plaining about the reticence to accept more job access. Consequently, if a crehave access to a university degree, the these degrees (they are provincially dential loses its value as that way staavailability of any kind of degree creapproved credentials). In response to tion, then the inflation of the cost dential will be positive. If the degree is these pressures (governments pay the will outstrip the return of the credenan applied/workplace degree, then the bills after all), the universities will be tial to the individual and demand immediate access to the job market in a grudgingly forced to consider these from the smart consumer will decline. specific trade or professional area will be degree holders as at least eligible for If the degree is a foundational degree valued. There is little doubt that in the admission to professional schools and or if the student has aspirations of furshort term students will find the degree graduate schools. Faced with a greatly ther study, then the satisfaction will be experience a positive one. By all expanded pool of eligible degree short lived as they learn that their creaccounts, student satisfaction with the
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the intention that all new degree expeplicate the degree accreditation issue. holders, graduate and professional riences will ultimately lead to a provinThe result was a simple system of schools will be under the same access cially approved university credential. accreditation by legislation. If an instiproblems as the undergraduate credenConsequently, while there is some tution was approved by the respective tial and will respond in kind with fraying at the edges, the informal provincial government, it was deemed increased number of graduate pronational compact that the Canadian to be accredited. Since only universigrams. And the workplace, graduate degree has a value and reputation to be ties were traditionally provided the schools, professional schools and proprotected has endured. However, some legislation to offer degrees, the quality fessions will ultimately change the crecracks in this compact have been of the Canadian degree was seen as dential for access from an developing. consistent (and generally high quality) undergraduate degree to an undergradfrom coast to coast. uate degree plus. Obviously, there were interFor example, many states in the US erhaps, the first crack was the provincial differences regarding the and some Canadian provinces are congranting of a university charter to recognition of non-public institutions sidering moving to a masters as the a number of unique institutions such or credentials, the right of different entry to teaching. And now that the as Nipissing University in North Bay institutions to grant different credenCGA certificate requires an undergrad(1992), Athabasca University in uate degree, how long will it be Alberta (1970), Royal Roads before the CA designation in British Columbia Provincial-level changes in response University requires an MBA? And now that (1995), and Ryerson University to unprecedented demand for executive MBAs proliferate, how in Toronto (1993). All have hislong will the market value of tories of high-quality programdegree-level credentials are the credential be sustained? ming, but were also chartered threatening to disrupt this interas very different and distinct provincial harmony. To date, the degree-granting institutions. art of the answer to degree common element in all of these Athabasca University was one inflation may lay with the of Canadas first distance edudegree accreditation proceresponses has been the intention dure. Up until recently, all that all new degree experiences will cation university; Nipissing was Canadas first (subsequentpost-secondary institutions ultimately lead to a provincially ly revised) undergraduate only were government approved approved university credential. university; Ryerson was and were part of a relatively Canadas first career or vocahomogenous two-sector sysConsequently, while there is some tionally focused university; tem: a college (community) fraying at the edges, the informal Royal Roads was the first system and a university sysnational compact that the Canadian and publicly chartered university tem. While there was certainly wide differentiation within degree has a value and reputation to with a mandate to be self fundthese two sectors, if an institu- be protected has endured. However, ed. Since receiving their charters, all have established good tion was provided with a some cracks in this compact have reputations as degree-granting provincial charter or legislabeen developing. universities and have been tion to be one type of instituaccepted into the university fold. tion or the other, then the institution tials, and the relationship between the While they certainly represent differwas seen to be an accredited various types of post-secondary instientiated missions, they function withCanadian college or university. This tutions. But historically these differin the framework of the traditional issue has been complicated by the fact ences have been mostly on the margin. university environment. However, that there is no federal system of eduThat is, the differences have not histheir establishment did suggest a first cation at any level in Canada, so each torically been significant enough to sign of change in the degree-granting of the ten provinces and three territodisrupt the tacitly accepted framework business in Canada. Ontarios newest ries established their own methods to of Canadian degree-granting postuniversity, the University of Ontario manage and control the credentials secondary education. Institute of Technology (2003), continoffered by post-secondary instituProvincial-level changes in ues the tradition of developing new tions. However, the issue is greatly response to unprecedented demand and unique degree-granting possibilisimplified in Canada by the fact that for degree-level credentials are threatties by establishing a new university. while many existing universities had ening to disrupt this inter-provincial The second crack in the degreeprivate/religious origins, until recentharmony. To date, the common elegranting compact occurred in the ly there was virtually no history of ment in all of these responses has been province of British Columbia as the private-for-profit universities to com-

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government responded to both the shortage of universities in general and the shortage of degree places by establishing a collection of five degreegranting, diploma-granting hybrids that they called university colleges. Every attempt was (and is still being) made to ensure that the student environment and the degrees offered are as university-like as possible. For example, the degrees were initially offered by an established university in British Columbia, although the complete degree was delivered on the college campus. Nonetheless, the existence of degree-granting institutions that were not in the traditional university model (they are government funded and legislated under the Colleges Act), caused some discomfort in the area of degree recognition. And the government of BC is currently dismantling parts of the university college model. The third crack relates to private degree-granting institutions. Canada has accepted for some time the validity of the private, not-for-profit, (primarily faithbased) degree-granting institutions. Most provinces have at least one such institution chartered to offer a limited range of undergraduate degrees. However, (with the exception of the AUCC member institutions) the credibility of the faith-based baccalaureates outside of the faith-based post-secondary environment has always been questioned, and even more so over the past decade as more and more such institutions have been established and have received permission from the provincial government to operate as a university or university college. Accreditation is certainly an issue for such institutions, but the relatively small impact on the Canadian degreegranting scene and their ability to articulate solid one-to-one transfer relationships with established public universities has resulted in a certain level of acceptance by the national post-secondary education system. Private-for-profit degree-granting institutions, however, are another matter. Canada has literally no history of privatefor-profit universities in general, much less private-for-profit universities/degreegranting. At the current time, only the
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CP Photo

Demand for access to higher education has grown sharply in Canada over the last years, and this is unlikely to change shortly. The Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada expects that by 2011, Canadian universities will need to respond to a projected 20 to 30 percent increase in demand for university enrolment.

DeVry Institute of Technology in Calgary is actively operating as a for-profit degreegranting institute. So while it would appear that the per student or competitive impact is relatively small, the existence of these degrees in Canada has put a large crack in the compact of the Canadian degree credibility and called

into question the default system of accreditation at the provincial level. The fourth crack occurred in 1995 when Mount Royal College in Alberta became the first college in Canada to offer applied baccalaureate degrees. Other Alberta colleges, and colleges in Ontario and British Columbia have

Access to degrees in the knowledge economy

for the funding of post-secondary eduhave traditionally been the domain of followed suit. Colleges in British cation, some provinces are now conthe provincially chartered university. Columbia and Alberta had been offersidering the college (traditional The bill also provides for the ing university transfer for many years community colleges in Canada) as an establishing of the Campus Alberta (Mount Royal as early as 1931), but it agent to deliver the complete foundaQuality Council. The government was with the introduction of the tional baccalaureate degree; the BA believes that this quality assessment applied degree credential that the and the BSc that represent most of the process can suffice as the accrediting university monopoly on the baccalaudemand and most of the enrollment in agency and the quality control on reate credential in Canada was broexisting universities. College-level degree-granting in Alberta. ken. Still, these credentials have not degrees would solve several of the It is possible that this step by the caused a significant challenge to the degree-access problems from a governAlberta government to allow traditiontraditional degree-granting environments perspective. al (community) colleges to offer forment, since they were approved and merly university-level foundational continue to be recognized as unique G Governments traditionally have bachelor of arts and bachelor of applied workplace credentials and not far more control over colleges science degrees may be the final crack intended to be in competition or a than with universities. in the tacit international acceptance of substitute for a traditional baccalaureG Governments can avoid bicamera Canadian degree. Despite the fidate degree. There is no common al governance and the perceived dling with degree-granting at the marunderstanding across the country of problems of faculty control over gin (e.g., private, virtual, applied etc.), the program for these degrees (e.g., academic decisions. degree-granting has remained largely Alberta applied degrees and Ontario G Governments can ensure faculty the domain of the licensed or charapplied degrees are quite different). teaching loads that are, in some tered university in Canada. But now, However, the graduates of at least instances, twice the university setting. some of these degrees are gaining increased It is clear that the continued expansion of alternate degree respect in both the sources and the concomitant degree inflation is simply a workplace and the propalliative to the real problems of equality and access to postfessions and finding a credible and recognized secondary education in Canada. By giving students access to place in the post- credentials with the implied promise of some sort of higher secondary spectrum. education mobility but, at the same time, setting up the In essence, by 2000, circumstance that those credentials will always be seen as the degree-granting scene in Canada was starting to second choice is a cruel hoax being played on sectors of our show the signs of differ- society that can little afford the hoax. entiation usually associated with the post-secondary system in the implicit acceptance that provincial G Governments can separate the United States. Consumers, the government control over the degreeresearch from teaching and have workplace, and graduate schools were granting environment has been a suffidegree-granting institutions where now having to distinguish between cient accreditation process will be the faculty role does not include private degrees, distance degrees, faithunder question. In essence, as long as research. based degrees, applied degrees and the individual provincial governments G And most importantly, because all old fashion run-of-the mill university stayed mostly on the same page of the above, government can undergraduate degrees. By this time, regarding degree-granting (as they do deliver an undergraduate degree all of these groups, in addition to with many other standards of practice (in a college) for perhaps 60 perbeing confused, were questioning the in many professional areas), Canada cent of the cost to both the taxlong accepted notion of the efficacy of has never felt the need to establish a payer and the student of the provincial-level processes to approve national degree or institutional accredsame degree in a university. accredited institutions or degrees. itation process. Consumers (parents, Alberta has recently passed the It now appears that the next (and students, employers, graduate schools, Post-secondary Learning Act 2003 (Bill perhaps final?) crack in the degreeprofessional schools) both here in 43) as the first provincial legislation granting compact is in progress in at Canada and elsewhere are now sugthat allows public colleges the opporleast one province in Canada (and cergesting otherwise. tunity to extend their current ability to tainly being watched by others). With offer the first two years of university an escalating demand for universitytransfer, to offering the complete founredential or degree inflation is level degrees and continuing concerns dational degrees which to this point not a bad thing. There are gen-

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uine, changing workplace and further learning expectations that require an increase in the supply of and access to undergraduate degrees. In addition, there is a growing need for new types of degrees such as applied degrees and technology degrees that represent the growing knowledge base of some technical, professional or vocational workplace environments. Neither of these circumstances is an inappropriate contributor to degree inflation. The growing concern is with the provision of various credentials (diploma or degree) that represent some sort of dilution of the meaning of the credential. For example, simply changing the name of a diploma to a degree without changing the substance represents the extreme of this dilution of the meaning of the degree credential. Other examples include the mass producing of degrees through institutions like the University of Phoenix, the proliferation of executive MBAs and, most recently, the movement to offer foundational (BA, B.Sc.) degrees in community college environments. The result of such dramatic increase in supply without a concomitant maintenance of the foundation or experience of the degree is inflation not dissimilar to the kind of fiscal inflation that occurs when governments print money without a change in the financial base of the country. The long-term result of degree inflation includes the following: 1. Consumers, parents, students, employers and graduate schools and professional schools throughout the country will have to start looking beyond the particular degree to the institution delivering the degree to determine the relative value of the credential. 2. While there is some implicit tiering with university credentials at the current time, the tiering will be increasingly explicit as different types of institutions enter the degree business. 3. Professional associations such as the Association of Colleges and Universities in Canada (AUCC)
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4.

5.

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will become much less cavalier about the importance of the standard of practice that they establish and the implications of membership in their association. This will include increased efforts to establish the measures of quality in a degree experience. There will be political and national pressures to establish a national degree-granting accreditation body that is arms-length from both professional associations and provincial politics. The issue of degree accreditation and degree credibility will heat up considerably in Canada over the next decade as competition for spaces in graduate schools and professional schools increases. These schools will begin to use the institutional source of the degree as an initial triage for admittance. The challenge to bridge provincial autonomy and education with national interest and the professional standard of practice will be a serious issue. Without an attempt to reconcile provincial-national interest, there is a real danger that in less than two decades Canada will have gone from an internationally recognized national standard of practice in degree-granting to 10 (or more) different degree meanings and standards. The implications for international educational trade are significant. Finally, it is clear that the continued expansion of alternate (nonuniversity) degree sources and the concomitant degree inflation is simply a palliative to the real problems of equality and access to postsecondary education in Canada. By giving students access to credentials with the implied promise of some sort of higher education mobility but, at the same time, setting up the circumstance that those credentials will always be seen as second-choice is a cruel hoax being played on sectors of our society that can little afford the hoax. The result of

increasing degree inflation that is fuelled by a cheap solution to degree access will be a clear tiering of degree credentials. This, in turn, will result in a kind of degree divide whereby the real degrees (or at least the ones most valued in the workplace and for further study) will be available to those that either know the difference, or as more and more private opportunities arise, can afford the difference. For those that arent knowledgeable about the differences between the types of degrees, the hoax is that it may be years after they graduate before they learn the difference. And, the perceived social equalizing of access to degrees is not only mythical, but reversed. Given the strong correlation between socioeconomic levels and levels of education, this could, in some ways, represent the circumstances where there would be degrees for the uninformed and the poor and those for the informed and the rich. Given the growing demand for degrees, and given the value of citizens with degrees to economic development, too much restriction on the volume of undergraduate degrees is a poor economic development strategy. In general, the control of degree inflation caused by demand and supply of high quality undergraduate degrees is not a good policy for most governments. However, governments can and should control excessive degree inflation by ensuring that whatever inflation occurs is appropriate inflation related to the supply of quality credentials rather than simply due to the type of degree delivered. Dave Marshall was appointed president of Mount Royal College in Calgary in September 2003. He was president of Nipissing University in Ontario for 13 years and Dean of Education for 5 years. He was chair of the Council of Ontario Universities Committee on Relationships with Other Post-secondary Institutions.